Sometimes, the conference means everything.

Ask Tom Osborne, coach of perennial Big Eight football champion Nebraska. The Cornhuskers have a reputation for going undefeated in the regular season but getting no respect in the national polls because their conference is so weak.

Ask Ronn Tomassoni, coach of the Harvard men's hockey team. Two years ago, the Crimson scorched the ECAC for the regular-season championship but was upset in the first round of the tournament by thenlowly RPI. Because of the ECAC's weak reputation, Harvard became the first ECAC team to win the regular season title but not receive a bid to the NCAA tournament.

Or, ask the members of the Harvard women's ice hockey team, comfortably ensconced in the most powerful conference in the country.

"There's the Ivy League, then Colby, Bowdoin and Middlebury, New Hampshire, Northeastern, Providence and Boston College," sophomore defender Holly Leitzes said. "All of them are in the ECAC. The heart of women's college hockey is really right here."

Simply put, the women's college hockey world begins and ends with the ECAC. The ECAC title is the de facto national championship, and every game is accordingly important. Providence, Brown and Northeastern aren't just regional rivals anymore--they are the national powers.

This is the best of all possible worlds for the rapidly-improving Harvard squad. The Crimson doesn't have to wait three months to measure itself against the nation's best, nor does it have to judge its national success on a non-conference novelty matchup here and there.

Rather, it plays the best teams in the country weekend after weekend.

Northeastern? Played 'em, but lost 4-1. Brown? Played 'em twice, splitting the series 3-2 and 2-3. Princeton? Played them too, losing 4-3. On the docket are defending national champion Providence (February 19) and traditional power New Hampshire (February 12), along with repeat offenders Princeton (February 5), Northeastern (in the Beanpot) and Brown (February 20).

Comparatively speaking, the men's schedule is a La-Z-Boy. Recliner.

Of course, the difference between the men's and women's teams right now is that the men win a lot more games. While the men are 5-2-1 in the ECAC, the women are just 1-3-1. The women have played Princeton, Brown and Northeastern but are just 1-3 against the ECAC's upper echelon so far.

Harvard has had a women's hockey team since the 1970s, but only in the past two or three years has it really started making noise. This year, Coach John Dooley nabbed prize recruit A.J. Mleczko, who is currently tied for the Ivy League lead in scoring with seven points (15 points overall). Junior goalie Erin Villiotte is one of the Country's elite.

And the team is young, with only two seniors and three juniors. There are four sophomores and--get this--eight freshmen. That's a far cry from last year, when Dooley could only suit up 12 players, and a bellwether of better things to come.

Against the best the nation has to offer, these eight freshmen will learn fast. And before long, Harvard might be the one providing the education.

Already, the team has the potential to be one of the top "five or six" teams in the country, Leitzes said. So far, the team has yet to show the coherence it needs to soar that high, but the immediate future ain't too dark.